Staff salaries inconsistent

[Amelie090904]

Easy question, hope for an easy answer.

I have observed that my staff salaries go up and down regularly without any change from my end. I didn't buy any new plane, didnt schedule new routes, didn't open a new base...I just didn't do anything at all. But my salaries go up and down from 29 million to 33 million, back to 29 million. Why does that happen?

Thank you!

[wildavidson]

Depends what month it is. Monthly salaries divided my number of days in the month. So some weeks like in February you pay more each week as there are less days in the month.

[Amelie090904]

Hmm, interesting aspect. Thanks for clarification. It was february in my game world so that made sense. 

[mtpyst]

My small airline has five aircraft each capable of carrying nine passengers (PC-12). I need 220 people to run that tiny airline and for example my high level management require 21000 dollars/month to be happy. It's pretty hard to make any profit as it would be also in real life (at least with staff like this).

[01miki10]

My small airline has five aircraft each capable of carrying nine passengers (PC-12). I need 220 people to run that tiny airline and for example my high level management require 21000 dollars/month to be happy. It's pretty hard to make any profit as it would be also in real life (at least with staff like this).

Out of interest, why do you have so small aircraft? That's definitely a way to get bankrupt in this game.

[gazzz0x2z]

Out of interest, why do you have so small aircraft? That's definitely a way to get bankrupt in this game.

In previous GW3, there was that guy in Solomon Islands, with 26 Pilatus, who was around 30% of profitability.

But that's 26, not 5. 5 is not enough, I fear, to cover the basic expenses.

[schro]

So, the thing with staffing costs is that indivdually, they likely will not make very much sense. They may have some tent pole of reality, but they don't always. The real thing to look at is your total staff costs for running the airline, perhaps as a percent of revenue or some other basis. The game is tuned to make those ratios work to align your total staff costs with about the right number for a particular time period in the game. The other element of game design is that very small airlines (5-10 planes, or more when they're only small planes) are often not viable due to fixed overhead costs that can't be overcome with a small fleet. Once you get up to a dozen or two profitable planes, you'll be in much better shape.

Out of interest, why do you have so small aircraft? That's definitely a way to get bankrupt in this game.

Not exactly. You may want to take a look here: https://www.airwaysim.com/forum/index.php/topic,48305.0.html

[RuneF]

Easy question, hope for an easy answer.

I have observed that my staff salaries go up and down regularly without any change from my end. I didn't buy any new plane, didnt schedule new routes, didn't open a new base...I just didn't do anything at all. But my salaries go up and down from 29 million to 33 million, back to 29 million. Why does that happen?

Thank you!

It actually fluctuates a lot on a weekly base, and i would presume, that a week is 7 days whatever month you are in ? For my company with about 24K employes it fluctuates as much as about 3 million a week. 4-5 weeks high, about the double lower. I have not so far figured out a good reason.

[schro]

It actually fluctuates a lot on a weekly base, and i would presume, that a week is 7 days whatever month you are in ? For my company with about 24K employes it fluctuates as much as about 3 million a week. 4-5 weeks high, about the double lower. I have not so far figured out a good reason.

Check out the post immediately following his for the answer ;-)

[RuneF]

Thnx, sorry i did not make the connection b4, i guess the difference 30/31 (and 28) days is a bit significant when month salary are 130 mill +

But checking on this i found feb most odd in my book, its 10%+ over January, and about the same in march, what happened here ?

[schro]

Thnx, sorry i did not make the connection b4, i guess the difference 30/31 (and 28) days is a bit significant when month salary are 130 mill +

But checking on this i found feb most odd in my book, its 10%+ over January, and about the same in march, what happened here ?

Feb has the fewest days out of all months.... Salaries are determined on a monthly basis, they are charged to your income statement on a daily basis. Pay raise requests usually happen March 1. Hiring staff/expanding will logically increase your staffing costs as well. Also, the "fiscal" game "month" that you see there is NOT representative of a calendar month.

"Fiscal" months start on the first Monday of a month, and run through the first Sunday on or after the end of the month. Some months will contain 5 game weeks, the rest will contain 4 game weeks. For 1991, it looks like this:

January: 1/7-2/3
February: 2/4-3/3
March: 3/3-3/31

However, the daily charge for staff changes with the calendar. Therefore, the income statement is a terrible place for figuring this out.

If you really want the math to work, go to the personnel office page and look at your total monthly staff cost there. Divide that number by the number of days in the month in question, then multiply that number by 7, and this should be your approximate weekly staffing costs (for weeks that fall completely within that particular month, otherwise, it can be a two part calculation - i.e. the last week in January (1/27-2/3) will have 4 days of January staff costs and 3 days of February staff costs, all of which will roll up into January when you view the income statement monthly.

[SP7]

And of course don't forget about the ever fun 53rd week.

[gazzz0x2z]

And for base costs, I just made an experience by raising Memphis from level 2 to level 3 base. I've got a rather big company, not huge(53 B737, 287 B737, 461 A148), and year is 2025. For a 31-days month, salaries costs have increased by 8M$ weekly.

So, assuming I'm going to make 500k$ weekly per 737 there(an optimistic assumption, though possible, opposition is weak over there), I'll need 16 of them just to break even. I planned 30 or so, which means I'll probably make marginally more money, but it's a number to remember when expanding to several bases.

I don't remember it to be that punitive when I made it with smaller companies. But level 3-4 bases should really be reserved for strongholds with a lot of potential large aircraft.

[Sami]

And for base costs, I just made an experience by raising Memphis from level 2 to level 3 base.

The cost jump is the largest from 2 to 3 indeed. Smaller (1-2) bases are intended for small regional operators and the real big bucks are in the large (3-4) bases so that's why they tend to be more costly too.

[gazzz0x2z]

The cost jump is the largest from 2 to 3 indeed. Smaller (1-2) bases are intended for small regional operators and the real big bucks are in the large (3-4) bases so that's why they tend to be more costly too.

Hence the old saying : don't go for large aircraft if it's just for a few of them. I remember having flown exactly 3 of them from Corfu, and now I know it was not a clever move. But I had so many bases and so many planes that a detailled analysis was not possible. This time, I made the analysis on purpose, keeping a maximum of things unchanged. And I have a good idea of what it costs now. 8M$ weekly in 2025. I guess this information will be useful also for other players.

Hence also the interest of big "medium" aircraft as the BAC 1-11, the E195 or the F100/120. Up to a certain range, they are making some big bucks, too. Still, beyond 1300NM(1800NM for domestic routes), those are mincemeat for 737. So, know your market before choosing a fleet type. If the juicy lines are abroad, 1500NM away, or domestic, 2000NM away(like for some US airports, especially on the coasts), then large aircraft are mandatory. If they are nearer, OTOH(like most European airports), F100/E195 are really, really attractive.

[MuzhikRB]

is it possible to see the maintenance cost of each base in Income statement ?

or its somehow hidden in HQ costs ?

I have several big bases already (level 3) do not see any visible damage from upgrading them from level 2.

but surely the cost is more.

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added
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found an answer.
in 2025 if you open base level 2 it will increase hQ staff sallary by 400K per month. if choose level 3 it will become 3,5M per month..

so, you need to make more than 4M in profits from this base at least to make it works

[JumboShrimp]

is it possible to see the maintenance cost of each base in Income statement ?

You can see maintenance costs per base on the income statement.  Just click the green down arrow next to maintenance, and it will expand.

[MuzhikRB]

yeah.
found tks.
But HQ increased cost is hidden in overall HQ cost.

[JumboShrimp]

yeah.
found tks.
But HQ increased cost is hidden in overall HQ cost.

Yes.  I think this could be something that would be a good new feature: To separate HQ overhead from HQ base.  This way, opening a new base would only increase HQ overhead, and not pollute the HQ base results.

[gazzz0x2z]

Yes.  I think this could be something that would be a good new feature: To separate HQ overhead from HQ base.  This way, opening a new base would only increase HQ overhead, and not pollute the HQ base results.

Yeah. Now I know, as I measured a precise way, with nothing else changing. Not exactly a scientific study, but still something sound. I know that the base costs told by the base selection wizard are only a fraction of the real costs. Had I known that for my first two games, I'd have performed much better. And once you've got 6 or 7 bases, it's very tough to know what is costing what, everything is in the same pot.

In other words, I support 100% your idea.